On 2/14/2015 1:59 PM, Steve Peek wrote:


Premier, Climax and Tifblue, purchased from the top nursery in our area.
We will probably go back to a nearby market farm and pick both blue and
black berries plus figs.


I have those 3 plus 8 other varieties. Premier and Climax are early, Tifblue is mid-late season. Tifblue tends to get very tall, so you may have to keep it topped. Remember they are very shallow rooted, mulch well for the life of the plant. If you are looking for other varieties, Powderblue is a highly productive mid season plant and my very favorite for fresh eating, pick Centurian for huge, late berries. My other plants are Northern Highbush so I don't think you would be interested.

I have an acre plus of blueberries, 700 or so plants. My picking season runs from late May through frost. I did a lot of study with the Ag extension office of NC State U and planned for a long picking season. So fat it's worked out pretty well.

Good luck with them,
Steve

The raised bed they're in is mostly peat moss with vermiculite, cow
manure compost and a manmade dirt which is mostly composted peat moss
(?), composted pine bark and other ingredients. The bed will be mulched
heavily with pine straw, easily come by near by for free.

Don't have room for anything else Steve, very small property and the
backyard is already crowded. We dug in every amendment we could find
along the backyard fence, all three sides plus the little space at the
front. One corner has my herb garden in it as they seem to do well with
the shade there. One of these days I will take a picture and post it.
Will have to be happy with going to the U pick 'em farms nearby. We got
blackberries and blueberries that way last year at about $3.50 a lb.
Were going to pick dewberries along the state highway verges but they
didn't get enough rain. Texas actually has a law that allows picking
berries along the state and county roads so lots of folks do that. I
wish they had a law that allowed you to pick up a deer that just got
clipped and only the head was damaged. Saw one this morning and we could
have had it in the SUV in a few minutes if a damned state trooper didn't
happen by. They don't salvage road kill for food banks here, they just
have them picked up and hauled to the dump. I like the way Alaska does
it, gives it to folks that need meat.

Add on: all our raised bed gardens have a flat soaker hose buried half
way to the bottom and right in the middle for watering during our very
hot and sunny summers. Beats standing out there with a hose an hour
every day. The fenceline beds have a regular soaker hose running down
the middle. I put in a four connection rig on the faucet and have the
hoses run through. Might decide to go to a buried drip system later.

Got three heads of cabbage left to pick, might make sauerkraut tomorrow
or Monday. Got a nice clean five-gallon bucket that is food quality just
for that.

George, Heat zone 8B, SE Texas